Fishes - Australian Museum Fish Site

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Prickly Dogfish
Oxynotus bruniensis (Ogilby, 1893)

Fresh caught Prickly Dogfish
A freshly captured Prickly Dogfish. View larger image.
Prickly Dogfish - whole
Prickly Dogfish registered as AMS I.39544-001.View larger image.
Prickly Dogfish - head
Head of the Prickly Dogfish. View larger image.
Underside of snout
Underside of the snout. View larger image.

The upper image of the Prickly Dogfish was sent by Fisheries Observer G. Diver. The fish was caught at a depth of 450m, off Tuross, New South Wales by the fishing vessel, FV Charissa. It is now registered in the Australian Museum Fish Collection (AMS I.39544-001)

The Prickly Dogfish is recognised by its hump-backed body which has a flat lower surface, and is nearly triangular in cross-section. This species has prominent abdominal ridges, two sail-like dorsal fins which are each preceded by a spine, and it lacks an anal fin. It is brown to grey in colour, although the dorsal fins and posterior margins of the pectorals and pelvics are often translucent to white. The skin of the Prickly Dogfish is very rough, giving rise to the common name.

Fishes which swim in open water are often spindle-shaped (fusiform, meaning tapering to both ends). This is the most energy efficient body shape for pelagic fishes. For fishes that live on or near the bottom, a spindle-shaped body is less energy efficient (Pridmore & Barwick, 1993). These fishes often have cambered (humped) body shapes. The Prickly Dogfish has an extremely cambered body shape.

Little is known of the biology of the Prickly Dogfish. It has a short snout, lanceolate (spear or lance-shaped) teeth in the upper jaw, and blade-like teeth in the lower jaw. This arrangement of teeth and the fleshy lipped mouth bears some resemblance to the Cookie Cutter Shark.

Worldwide, there are four species in the Family Oxynotidae. Only one species is recorded in temperate marine waters of Australia in depths of 45-650m. It has been recorded from off the central New South Wales coast to the Great Australian Bight, including Tasmania. The Prickly Dogfish grows to 72cm in length.

Further reading

  1. Compagno, L.J.V. 1984. FAO species catalogue. Vol. 4, Sharks of the World. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of shark species known to date. Part 1 - Hexanchiformes to Lamniformes: viii, 1-250.
  2. Glover, C.J.M. in Gomon, M.F., C.J.M. Glover & R.H. Kuiter (Eds). 1994. The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. State Print, Adelaide. Pp. 992.
  3. Last, P.R. & J.D. Stevens. 1994. Sharks and Rays of Australia. CSIRO. Pp. 513, Pl. 1-84.
  4. Pridmore, P.A. & R.E. Barwick, 1993. Post-cranial morphologies of the Late Devonian dipnoans Griphognathus and Chirodipterus and locomotor implications. Mem. Ass. Australas. Palaeontols. 15: 161-182 ISSN 0810-8889.
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